BALANCE & STRENGTH

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Often while I’m guiding yoga classes, I say something like “moving with the breath with grace, balance and strength” - “GBS” (instead of GPS!) – our personal “global positioning system.” It may sound corny, but when you think about it, having the intention to move on the mat and then out into the world with GBS – grace, balance and strength - sort of puts everything in a peaceful order.

Strength can be built up over time. We just don’t have strength both in body and in mind and heart. Moving through life with physical strength to do the things we need and want to do is imperative. Moving through life with strength of mind and heart is equally as important. It is continual; we need to continually “refresh” our physical stamina, our thoughts to be centered and disciplined, and our hearts to be open and feeling. Things are not always this way and we go through ups and downs. We may have an injury and don’t feel particularly strong in body, or we might have something going on that we cannot get our minds around, or we might be heartbroken. We can only intend to keep the strength going and move with what is taking place in our lives.

Sometimes, all is well! That is the place of balance. Ah. Trying to put things in place so this feeling is more and more frequent will help to de-stress and preserve the inner peace that is within all of us. (The inner peace could be just so hidden by the years and years of living in this kind of world.) What does it mean to “put things in place”? Addressing points of stress – not having them live in you, simplifying things, taking the time to think about and feel what is right in front of you. Ask yourself the question: “what does it feel like or what would it feel like to move with balance or to be balanced”?

Grace is an attitude and an outward exemplification of an inner elegance, of courtesy, of respect, of kindness. – for ourselves and others. Basic humanistic traits that we have to put first in the hurry of life. Being kind to ourselves and respecting our own thoughts and feelings is nourishing to our overall well-being. We learn it on the mat in yoga – one of the Yamas – and we bring it into the world. And people are affected by it, no doubt.

Everyone can move with Grace, Balance and Strength. It is up to each one of us to define what that means in everything we do. Establishing that space within us and then being mindful of living from that central existence will produce happiness, abundance and prosperity. Even when we’re tired after doing so much and being so busy and spending so much time. Returning to that place where grace, balance and strength reside makes everything ok.

May you be happy. May you be free. May you be grateful. May you let go of things that do not serve you. May you have inner peace.